Abstract
Mediterranean agriculture commonly combines winter cereals, irrigated summer crops, forage systems and mixed successions that can include bare fallow. Soil organic carbon is a useful indicator of the environmental performance of these systems because management and local conditions strongly influence its trajectory.
The study assessed representative intensive cropping systems in Southern Italy over a long-term horizon. It examined changes in soil organic carbon stocks and carbon dioxide emissions using the RothC10N process model together with a GIS-based spatial procedure.
The model indicated that the management practices represented in the baseline rotations did not support carbon sequestration across every rotation. Scenarios retaining crop residues in the field and using irrigation more carefully for summer crops produced a more favourable carbon balance.
Management context
Results suggest that rotation design alone does not determine soil carbon outcomes. Residue handling, water management and the characteristics of individual crop sequences all affect the balance. The modelled baseline showed an aggregate change of −4.29 Mg C ha−1, while the improved management scenario reached 6.73 Mg C ha−1.
These findings provide evidence that can inform locally adapted agro-environmental measures. As a model-based assessment, the work is most useful when interpreted alongside field conditions, management records and the assumptions documented in the full article.